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Rant about the Humanist Conference

kittynh

Penultimate Amazing
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Let's face it, when old white men with money get together...things can go very very bad.

I frankly felt so very good about JREF and TAM after attending the Harvard Humanist conference. I am a deist, and honestly, you would think Humanism would be right up my alley. Count me OUT.

When old white men begin to talk about their days at prep school at Exeter... and attending Harvard... and how it's a shame they don't have a BIG fancy building and how about coughing up some money... and let's take 20 minutes to introduce someone... in fact, let's have 3 people introduce ONE person (as indeed happened)....

So, the Humanitarian of the year is a very rich man that raised 10 million dollars to help rebuild a hitoric Jewish temple in.... Newport Rhode Island. Wow, count me underwhelmed. Mind you, the guy and his family donate a LOTTA LOTTA money to the Harvard Humanists group and even endowed the chapliancy. But a temple in Newport Rhode Island where the rich gather to live and play? How about Poland or even Brooklyn! But we all needed to clap and cheer for this man a long time.

These guys were so busy being very proud of themselves that they didn't seem to notice they lost about 1/3 of their audience by the time I left Saturday night. Forget Sunday! I couldn't handle anymore Humanist Church.

The panels were great, real people!

Now the real kicker. Maybe these older white men should think "wow, we really need to get the younger people involved". So, let's make them all sit by themselves at the big dinner, and tell them "well you paid a student rate, so you are getting a lesser dinner." Then ...and I can't believe this was actually said...the speaker said, "Now, all you students go sit at the childrens table" and he laughed. At my "grown up table" everyone agreed that Humanism was about how people were equal, and that we should ALL have the same dinner, even if we all ate the lesser dinner. The thought of making the students sit "over there" not with the other Humanists was just insulting.

Part of what I love about TAM is how everyone just sits together and you never KNOW who you will end up next to. You know it will be really interesting! Heck, JREF wants the younger skeptics to get to know and be with the older skeptics. It's all about education and passing it on!

I met a lot of great people! Everyone attending was great. The panel speakers were great. But on my goodness, if Humanism at Harvard made church look exciting.

Now for some PHOTOS!!!
 
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Pesta learns how the Colonial "pumped" it up. He is unimpressed.
 


Kitten meets a writer. And this part of the conference was GREAT. The man is really wonderful.
 
And it was a PERFECT weekend as far as weather. The boats were all out on the Charles River.

 
kittynh said:
don't you wish you were listening to this story?

[qimg]http://s10.picshome.com/dbb/little_dinner_one.jpg[/qimg]
Click to expand...

Yes.

I remember the faces fondly from TAM. Thanks for telling us about the event. It sounds stuffy, and so now I don't feel terribly left out. Was Steven Pinker a speaker there? I really like him.

I agree, Randi's approach is much better--get the young, the woman, the minorities--make everyone feel welcome...the mixed dining is great--it is a very fun and unstuffy event. Humans and humanism comes in all human types.
 
The picture of Scarlett is fantastic - the movement, the energy. Good shot.
 
Now the real kicker. ... I can't believe this was actually said...the speaker said, "Now, all you students go sit at the childrens table"
Click to expand...

The words I remember were now would the children move to the children's table. For the record, Kitten pictured above is a lot brainier than I am, and I just have to work for a living, so paid the full rate.

Also they addressed Harvard Alums with the plea for the bigger building / office, fortunately I didn't go to Hahvard.


FYI: Pemission is granted to post any pictures of me you may have, I was seated to Rebecca's left at the table above..
 
Salmon is very photogenic!

I was more upbeat about the conference-- will post more later. I do think separating people at dinner was ironically moronic, and that whoever the dude was who said to the kiddy table should issue a formal apology.



l_f26b5c8abe5ff5305c49cba1fe99b6fa.jpg
 
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Great photos, Kitty, thanks for posting them (I didn't bring my camera).

Overall I agree with your assessment, though let me just take issue with one thing, sort of. Ambassador Loeb was the moneybags you mention who helped restore Touro Synagogue. Touro is an extraordinarily important structure -- it's the oldest synagogue in the US and is a lasting symbol of religious tolerance. It's location in Newport does nothing to diminish its historical, architectural, and religious import. Does Loeb deserve an award for helping to protect this jewel of a building? I don't know. But, let's not lose sight of the fact that the money he gave went to a very, very good cause.

Full disclosure: I worked for the company that restored Touro, and I got to spend some time with Loeb at the conference and enjoyed his company thoroughly.
 
Oh, and I posted a wrap-up on the Skepchick blog:
http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=516

The serious rants I had I sent directly to Greg, the Harvard Humanist Chaplain. I suggest you all do the same so he knows what he might want to work on for the next conference.
 
A Brief Explanation About the Student Dinner Snafu

I just got back from the event, myself. I will write a more substantial blog about it, a little later. I, too, was miffed about the student dinner snafu. But, I asked Greg Epstein about it, and in brief, this is what happened:

First of all, the venue had to change, because of the overwhelming crowd. This meant the meals were more expensive. They had to serve a cheaper meal to the students (many of whom attended via grant, and hardly paid anything to be there), to make up for the more expensive food thrust upon everyone else, by the hotel. Greg tells me he had to beg the hotel just to accommodate what they were able to arrange with that meal plan.

Second of all, The Wall was the hotel's idea. The hotel was afraid that, without The Wall, the cheap fooders would mix themselves with the expensive fooders, and chaos would ensue. I don't think Greg had much choice in this matter.

Ideally, they should have sat the students down, right away, and once most of them were settled, remove The Wall, before the speakers started. But, "mistakes were made", and that simply did not happen.

I also tried to ask him about why the speakers ran so freakin' late. Unfortunately, I never got much of an answer to that, other than "mistakes were made", before he had to run off.

I will write more about the event, including both praise for the good parts, and more gripes about the bad parts, later on. I hope to publish it no later than tomorrow evening.

Keep in mind that I was only one of the regular guests there, not an employee, so if you have further questions, or seek clarifications, you might want to inquire with Greg or the Humanist Chaplaincy of Harvard.
 
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some of the people from the myspace group, three were missing. Great group of people, I really enjoyed getting to know them
 
I stand corrected with Ambassador Loeb.

Honestly, I think he should have been honored for all his work for the Humanists, not just the restoration. Plus sounds like far better project than I thought!

I really should note I'm really tired. I enjoyed everyone I met! It was just a FEW moments that made me go "ARGH!".

But I did NOT know this was Gregs first time running such an event and I want to say right now that it is REALLY hard. You know, he doesn't have a Linda! There is a reason at TAM that LINDA is always honored.

So, first up, Greg needs a Linda!

Pesta and Scarlet were great. I was quite proud to be their friend. Where I was sitting the non JREF people mentioned how wonderful Pesta was on the panel and how much they liked him.

(this is because I wore the special name badge as I am a member of his Myspace group. I forgot who made those up Pesta, but thank him! I got MORE comments about my badge and talked a lot about your group)

Also, kudos as the Humanists made a big effort to offer scholarships to many many students. They did get a lot of students there!

That DID impress me!

I"m glad to have the dinner explained. But I think there needs to be an email or such to the students. The explaination wasn't very good. It should also be noted that we did have a student at our table that just said "forget it" and ate with the big folk. So even the walls didn't really "work".
 
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ShowerComic said:
The words I remember were now would the children move to the children's table. For the record, Kitten pictured above is a lot brainier than I am, and I just have to work for a living, so paid the full rate.

Also they addressed Harvard Alums with the plea for the bigger building / office, fortunately I didn't go to Hahvard.


FYI: Pemission is granted to post any pictures of me you may have, I was seated to Rebecca's left at the table above..
Click to expand...

oh thanks!

It was great to meet you. And you have to come to more of the NEw England events! See, meeting new friends was the highlight of the conference (as well as connecting with the old!)

 
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Interesting hearing everyone's opinion on the conference; here's mine!

First, independent of the content / speakers / dinner caste system, I sincerely think Greg Epstein is outstanding.

He had 500 attendees as a first-time conference. He successfully mixed Nobel prize winners with people who’s claim to fame was starting a group on Myspace. He was forced to change venues more than once (How big was Tam 1? How many more big egos needed to be dealt with here!).

I think the conference went off nearly flawlessly (independent of the content). That's the best compliment I can give to the guy who ran the show.

The speakers ranged from incredibly boring and incomprehensible to engrossing and brilliant (most conferences are like this, though the extremes here were likely sharper).

Salman kicked major ass. He is a gentleman and a scholar. Hearing him tell a few Islam jokes was worth the trip alone. He was kind enough to shake my hand in the bathroom (I hope I got him post-wash), and then later pose for a picture even though he was in a hurry to leave. That said, reading from a book for 20 minutes sucks no matter what the book or who's doing the reading. Also, the church at Harvard Yard impressed the hell out of me. It’s an amazing piece of architecture. What’s wrong with building a headquarters like this to advance humanist thought?

The morning session was mostly boring with the exception of one outstanding speaker (the "do you understand" guy), though he went too long.

The panel thingies seemed hit and miss to me. I think we needed more focused questions or issues, and that the topics were too broad. But, the diversity of participants on the panels speaks volumes about Greg’s efforts to unite the entire community. I think he did an outstanding job of making it seem like the little people matter. I buy the above-posted explanation for the splitting of the people at dinner. I noticed tears and intense emotion in Greg’s eyes when he was hugging Tom Ferrick. The whole conference was built around uniting the young unknown skeptics with the grey haired eminent ones. It just cannot be the case that the split at dinner was designed.

The night speakers were moderately entertaining. However, too many of them each speaking too long made it annoying on balance. I thought Tom Ferrick’s talk was sincere, interesting and heart felt (the conference was also about honoring his 30 year career with Harvard, so I don’t think it was overkill).

I think Harvard is the wallet that says bad mother****er. To be aligned with this institution gives us the prominence that we need. If that requires tolerating speeches from rich white males, so be it. I thought the guy who gave 1 million was not at all snobbish (I think it’s a bold and interesting statement: humanism is the most worth charity in existence), and even if he was arrogant, I think his million earned him the right to 10 minutes of ass kissing. Money is a necessary evil for any cause.

In sum, for a first time deal, I give it 4 and ½ stars, and I hope my 15 minutes of fame here hasn’t biased my opinions, but I am definitely glad I attended this thing.
 
good points Pesta!

I'm for a Humanist church! Heck there is a lovely Swedenborg church nearby, and if they can have a church then the Humanists should have a building. (seriously few Swedenborgs in the US).

I also want to attend again. I'd like to see if I could have a JREF table to give out you know, stuff, like other groups did.

Plus, I think that I get the most out of TAM when I volunteer. I know they had a lot of student workers and such, so perhaps volunteering by hosting a table would be one way to be more involved.
 
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